The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, regretted this Wednesday the death of five civilians in a bombing in Gaza, including three Portuguese citizens, and all the victims of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The head of state, who is in Bissau, conveyed his “solidarity with the civilian victims of the bombings in southern Gaza” through a note published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic on the Internet.
This note reads that “the President of the Republic, like the Government, regrets the death of five civilians in a bombing that occurred today in the south of Gaza, among them three of Portuguese nationality, and expresses its deepest solidarity with the families, as well as with all the victims of this conflict.”
“The President of the Republic hopes that, in the coming days, a group of Portuguese-Palestinian citizens can leave Gaza for Egypt,” he adds, in a short two-paragraph message, in which Israel is not mentioned. .
The President of the Republic is in Bissau to participate, on Thursday, in the official celebration of the 50th anniversary of the independence of Guinea-Bissau, together with the Prime Minister, António Costa, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho.
Late on Wednesday night, in a hotel in the Guinean capital, the Minister of Foreign Affairs reacted to the news of these deaths in Gaza, which he regretted, on behalf of the Government, and defended that these bombings must stop.
“The Portuguese Government deeply regrets the death of five people this afternoon in Gaza, three national citizens and two family members, as a result of the bombings,” João Gomes Cravinho told reporters.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that “an adult and two children” of Portuguese nationality died and reported that he conveyed to his Israeli colleague “his disgust at these deaths.”
“What happened this afternoon with the death of three national citizens and two direct relatives of these citizens is further proof that this is not the correct path. We need to stop these bombings now,” he defended.
For João Gomes Cravinho, “pause, ceasefire, truce, it doesn’t matter” what it is called, “as long as the result is the cessation of the bombings that are causing civilian casualties.”
The minister announced that he had received from his Israeli colleague the indication that today “ten national citizens and family members will leave” Gaza, and “three minor citizens have yet to leave.”
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has already lasted 40 days, after the Islamist group Hamas, classified as terrorist by the European Union and the United States of America, launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7, in which killed and kidnapped military personnel. and civilians, including children.
According to the Israeli government, Hamas killed more than 1,400 people in Israel and took around 220 hostages, four of whom have since been released.
The Israeli military responded with bombings and cutting off water, food, electricity and fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip, where more than two million people live.
Authorities in the Gaza Strip report more than 11,000 people killed by Israeli bombings, including more than four thousand children.
Source: TSF
